Cadaver Coach Hits L.A. Streets Just in Time for Halloween

by Sandy Sand

Just in time for Halloween, the cadaver truck arrived in the San Fernando Valley in California.

The Valley is the sprawling 400-square-mile section of the City of Los Angeles and just like the city, no stranger to food trucks of all types from the one-man hotdog stand to the lunchtime roach coaches to the exotic gourmet mobile food trucks, the routes of which are followed on cell phone APS.

From roach coach to cadaver coach slice and dice is the byword. The difference is that the cadaver coach doesn’t serve cadaver meals to its customers, rather it’s a mobile class room, teaching physicians how to perform various surgeries.

"I think it's (surgery is) one of the greatest skills to learn," said Dr. Ronald Belczyk, of Valley Presbyterian Hospital Amputation Prevention Center in North Hollywood, cutting a precise incision across a cadaver foot, still attached to a cadaver shin, in a surgical demonstration for resident surgeons.

Operated by Synthes, a Pennsylvania-based medical equipment company, Valley Pres was the coach’s first stop on its tour of L.A., and has visited hospitals across the nation since April.

Related: Big rig full of cadavers excites doctors